Living Leadership seems obvious at first. How can one lead without living it? Or can one? I have been pondeirng thoughts on what living leadership actually means.
Can I lead without living? If I am dead, does my leadership die with me? Is there such a thing as "non-living" leadership - that is, can the idea of a specific model of leadership be dead? Perhaps it depends on what the definition of "living" and "leadership" means.
Leadership means leading self or others towards a common vision or purpose of achieving an outcome.
How did I start going down this path?
The question I asked myself was: Am I living my leadership?
My sense is that I am leading my life on a daily basis. However, a personal crisis two years ago set me thinking whether I was truly leading my life for me, or was I leading one based on the expectations of others? The scary thing I realized was that in the last decade or so, I have been seeking the approval of others (both in my business or in my personal life) very unconsciously, and was perhaps blinded to 'reproduce' the models of 'ideal leadership' that I facilitated in an artificial sense in my own life.
Hence, I was living a leadership model that I manufactured as 'ideal' but which may not be panning out in the way I wanted it. Let me explain.
The model I strive for is a collaborative type leadership in all my dealings - whether in business, family relationships or friendships. In stepping back to look at the process, I discovered that I was 'canvassing' for others' opinions without having formulated a strong one myself ... more often than not, I became influenced by the strongest opinions from Others, which I then constructed as MY take on things!
So with these gradual realizations overt the last 2 years, I am taking baby steps to re-assess what living my leadership means ... and this is what I am interested in hearing from people out there: what is your take on Living Leadership?
In believe we can all learn from one another - here's to collaborative learning partnerships in living our leadership in our individual lives!